From Publishers Weekly
A woman unsettled by early loss?her parents, a sister, a beloved aunt and riding teacher?seeks solace in the unswerving loyalty of horses in a first novel more reminiscent of the stage play Equus than the recent books The Man Who Listens to Horses and The Horse Whisperer. Natalie Baxter, nearly 40 when the story begins, has spent her adult life fixated on horses, drifting from farm to farm until she finds herself perilously close to her hometown of Bethlehem, Pa., and in the employ of horse owner Pierce Kreitzer. He is as loss-scarred as she is and even less able to surface from a quagmire of self-pity. Dimmick provides a fine look at Leheigh Valley, the working-class, Moravian-influenced towns that depended for so long on steel mills and subsidiary industries and paid a heavy price in accidental and chemically caused deaths. Natalie has felt cut off from her roots ever since she left the valley, impelled to escape memories of a complicated childhood. Now she is drawn to a hobbled black horse named Twister that had belonged to Pierce's dead sister. She establishes an almost mystical relationship with the horse, but when she thinks "He has the mind of God," readers may not quite share the spiritual bond. And since Twister has a degenerative disease, another loss is inevitable for Natalie. Natalie herself is sometimes all insight, sometimes blind. Yet Dimmick will keep readers intrigued as she injects suspenseful incidents into the narrative (the pistol in the first act is indeed fired in the last scene). Natalie's coming to terms with her life, and her jolting ride toward redemption turn out to be absorbing. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
Memo to publishers: No more books about horses aimed at anyone over the age of 12! Following hard on the heels of Nicholas Evans's The Horse Whisperer (LJ 7/95) comes a pretty lame first novel. Natalie, the heroine of this plot-heavy but surprisingly boring effort, is galloping away from the pain of losing everyone she ever cared about (especially, but not exclusively, a beloved sister). She ends up on a Pennsylvania horse farm working for Pierce, a man who has (surprise!) lost everyone he ever cared about. In the process of falling in love with Pierce, Natalie discovers that she and a beautiful horse named Twister can somehow sense each other's thoughts?no need for whispering here. The author trots briskly through the ups and downs of horse-farm life (many sick animals), but it is hard to care what happens to the four-footed or two-footed animals that populate the book. Marguerite Henry, where are you and Misty of Chincoteague when we need you? Not recommended.?Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
